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Iceland in the World, the World in Iceland
24.11.2016
- 29.10.2017
The Arc Hall - National Museum of Iceland Suðurgata 41

Iceland, in both past and present, has been characterised by transnationalism – just like other countries in the world. Iceland has thus been a part of the mobility of people and ideas through the centuries. It is important to highlight this in the present, when current discourse is often based on the idea that in the past different parts of the world existed in isolation from each other. Prejudices are nothing new in Icelandic society, as for centuries Icelanders' ideas have been influenced by global conceptions of race.

In November 2016 the exhibition Iceland in the
world, the world in Iceland was opened in the Arc Hall of the National Museum.
The exhibition is based on research by anthropologists Kristín Loftsdóttir and
Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir and their students at the University of Iceland. The
exhibition shows that Iceland, in both past and present, has been characterized
by transnationalism – just like other countries in the world. Iceland has thus
been the platform for people's mobility and ideas over centuries.

The title of the exhibition Thoughts of home refers to the subject of the photographs and their dreamlike hue. The photographer Inga Lísa Middleton lives in the United Kingdom and exhibits at the Wall of the Photographic Gallery photographs from her home country Iceland. The photographs are printed using a method called Cyanotype, giving them their characteristic blue tint.

Björn Björnsson (1889-1977) was a self-taught photographer who worked as such in Iceland's Eastfjords alongside his work as a retailer in Norðfjörður mainly, but also in Seyðisfjörður and Djúpivogur. In later years, Björn specialised in nature photography and travelled the country for this purpose. His photographs of birds were published in newspapers and magazines, such as British Birds. An exhibition of Björn Björnsson's photographs will be on view in the Photo Gallery of the National Museum of Iceland 3.6.-17.9.2017.